Ready for redevelopment, Dharavi is hit with the woes of a makeover.

Located in the heart of India’s financial capital Mumbai, Dharavi, Asia’s largest slum, stretches over 259 hectares. With about a million people and thousands of commercial establishments, he has an estimated turnover of $1 billion. Plans to redevelop Dharavi have been under discussion since 2004, but fell through largely due to the size, scale and complexity of the project.

Now, billionaire businessman Gautam Adani’s group has won a bid for a long-delayed project. ¥5.069 billion.The project is expected to be completed in 17 years and will cost ¥20,000 kroner.

The news is met with hope, anxiety, skepticism and resistance in the sprawling slums.

Rekha Gayaquad, 45, who has lived in Dharavi for 27 years, said he was happy to hear that the slums would be redeveloped. “Our lives are over, but at least our children should have a better life,” she said.

Rekha lives with her two children and husband in a small 60-square-foot apartment. This apartment doesn’t even have a toilet. Families have to go outside to use the communal toilets. Her daughter she is 22 and her son she is 16.

A narrow alley runs perpendicular to Rekha’s house, where residents wash their utensils and clothes. The house is covered with off-white tiles and has an old refrigerator on the wall. A cooking stove is placed parallel to it, leaving little space for people to cook. Up to four people can flock to the floor at once to enjoy lunch or dinner. “We can’t have guests,” he lamented Mr. Rekha.

Rekha’s neighbors echoed her sentiments. One of them added that young men in Dharavi find it difficult to marry. “Who would let her daughter live in a place like this?” asked her Mr. Rekha.

If the project succeeds, Rekha and residents like her will have a total of 400 square feet of flats, 350 plus alternates. Alternative floor space is additional floor space developed beyond that set by the government. Official approval from the state government is awaited.

Residents of Dharavi can’t wait to see the project come to fruition, but those with commercial interests are concerned.

“I don’t want to move”

There are thousands of industries and single-room factories that employ hundreds of thousands of people. According to an official survey conducted in 2008, there are approximately 13,000 commercial units, a significant increase over the past 14 years. Industries include pottery, leather, textiles, plastic recycling, and small restaurants. Many workers live where they work and wonder what will happen to their livelihoods.

Mohammad Kaish Ansari, 50, is one of them.

As a laborer, he makes women’s bags in a one-room unit above his apartment. A rickety, steep ladder leads to a crowded room, where he works only with a small table fan that looks like ventilation. “I’m afraid I won’t be able to make a living from redevelopment. I’ve been here 25 years,” he said.

We sell 80-100 bags per month. ¥200 behind each. “That’s all I know,” he added.

Anxiety is even greater among large corporations.

Jitendra Shinde of Dharavi’s Leather Goods Manufacturing Association said there are at least 200,000 people dependent on various leather-related industries. “Dharavi is a leather hub,” he said. ¥500 kroner per month. Located in the center of Mumbai, it is very convenient for business. we don’t want to leave here ”

“Don’t pay them off”

SVR Srinivas, CEO of Dharavi Redevelopment Project, the planning authority for the redevelopment, said the commercial unit will be properly rehabilitated. “Dharavi is the most brownfield of brownfield projects,” he added. A project of this size and complexity cannot succeed without consulting and gaining the trust of the community. ”

Srinivas acknowledged that life would be disrupted during construction, but officials came up with something unprecedented. I will,” he added.

Industries such as hazardous and polluting leather and plastic recycling will be given incentives to move to cleaner technologies, Srinivas said. “We deal with it in a multifaceted way,” he said. “Dharavi is a vibrant economy. However, it has serious shortcomings, such as lack of security and clear rights for workers, which also need to be considered.”

The deadline for the redevelopment project is 1 January 2000, said Raju Korde, who heads the Dharavi Redevelopment Committee, which is made up of residents. “It will destroy the livelihoods of his 30-35% of people in Dharavi,” Korde said.

Many of the industries that operate in the slums are technically illegal. This means that residents will lose their homes and livelihoods if the project succeeds. Srinivas said the authorities will “take care of them and address their concerns as well.”

Korde hopes people from Dharavi will be prioritized once the place is renovated. This project is for the improvement of the people of Dharavi, not Adani. ”

4 bids, 1 battle

There were twists and turns in the redevelopment plan.

The Maharashtra government has so far placed four tenders in Dharavi since the project was first proposed. Official investigations were conducted in 2007-2008 through an organization called Mashal. A tender was held the following year. But there was no response from the developer. His second bid was made in 2016, which also received no response. “There was no one to take on this project as it is a very complex and risky project for investors,” Mr Srinivas said.

In 2018, the then Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis, decided to look at Dharavi’s redevelopment files from 2004. Interestingly, the company that won the bid was Adani’s. But it didn’t go through.

After Seclink won the tender, the state government decided to add a railway site near Dharavi to the project.decided that the country would pay ¥Rs.800 crore to acquire land from railways and use it for rehabilitation of slum dwellers.

Ashutosh Kumbakoni, the legal officer at the time, advised the state government to cancel the existing tender and issue a new tender as the railway site was not included in the original tender.

With the 2019 general elections looming, Maharashtra went to polls, which resulted in Fadnabis no longer being prime minister. In August 2020, the state’s new Prime Minister, Uddab Thackeray, canceled the 2018 bid on the advice of the Attorney General.

In December 2020, Seclink filed a warrant petition with the Bombay High Court, reportedly stating that the state government had “obstructed the project by delaying the issuance of the award.” After ousting Thackeray and forming a government with the rebel MLA, formerly part of the Thackeray-led government, Selink regained power. I am about to withdraw my bid. On December 16, 2022, the High Court accepted the petition. He asked the state government to respond by January 12th.

In late November, Adani Properties beat DLF Ltd to win a project to rehabilitate 259 hectares of prime land in Mumbai. Adani Group, currently not a big player in the real estate business, will soon become one of Mumbai’s top builders with this project.

next step

A special purpose vehicle (SPV) will be set up once formal approval is obtained from the state government, Srinivas said. ¥500 crore, of which the government will invest ¥1 billion rupees, Adani Group will invest the rest.Shortly thereafter, Adani Group will invest more of its bid amount ¥At $506.9 billion, the project will start.

Explaining how this redevelopment project differs from the previous one, Mr. Srinivas said the previous project was developer driven and the government was not involved. “Now the government is on the board of his SPV. Even the chairman is from the government. With an official support agreement, the state fully supports the project, unlike the previous one.” .”

Once the project is started, the SPV runs several activities in parallel. “We have another survey, we will clear the land, we will build a rehabilitation facility and we will create a master plan that will be the blueprint for the project,” he said.

“Previous plans did not include SGST cushions for the industry. We recognize that we need to be aware and respond to them.”

Those who settled in Dharavi after January 1, 2000 and those living on the ground floor and above. “In Dharavi it ​​is illegal to build above the ground floor,” he said.

So far, these guarantees have not calmed down those who live on floors built above ground floor.

29-year-old Pipshu Pandey owns a stationery shop opposite the municipal school in Dharavi. After school, he is busy selling pencils, erasers, and notebooks to his students as they go home. Directly above the store is his house where he lives with his family.

“My grandfather arrived here 50 years ago and we have been here ever since. This city and Dharavi gave us everything. It’s not.”